Microsoft has announced an update to the design of the Office.com interface and the Office app on Windows PCs for its commercial and education customers, to make it easier for them to find and manage their files wherever they're stored (either in the cloud or on the device), and to help get them started with their work quickly and without distraction.
The updated Office.com interface and the Office PC app have a redesigned Home featuring a "Quick Access" section to easily get to the files related to your work. This section included customizable filters so you can see your content according to your collaborators, document type, and more with a single click
The side pane has been reorganized and some useful sections have been added to it as well. It now has a new section called "My Content", that helps you get to all the work related to you no matter what type of file it is, where it's stored, or how it's shared with you.
The new "Browse by" feature (it's a filtering feature) helps you find content related to the people you work with, or meetings you've held so you can quickly find attachments, meeting recordings, Loops, or any other file you need.
The My Content section supports infinite scrolling to make it easier to find the files you're looking for, without having to use the search field and navigate through search results pages.
In the side pane, there is also a new section called "Create" that gathers all your apps in one place and enables you to create a new file or document with a simple click.
This section also contains many ready-to-use templates for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint to make it easier for you to create new content. These templates are categorized under topics such as Presentations, College Tools, Resumes and Cover Letters, Flyers, Brochures, Planners and Trackers, and Calendars.
When you click on one of these themes you will be presented with various template suggestions across multiple apps simultaneously so you can decide which one is best for you to use. Branded templates from your organization also appear under these suggestions if they are enabled by your organization’s IT department.
The new Office.com experience and the Office for PC app, as noted above, are only available to education and business customers for now, but Microsoft is also working to provide a similar experience for individuals who don't use a school or organization account, and Microsoft promises to provide more details about this, in the coming months.
